


Orphans & Bassinets

by Intangibel (duskbutterfly)



Series: The Babysitting Chronicles [2]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Adoption, Alec to the rescue, Domestic Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, M/M, Malec, Malec Child(ren) - Freeform, Orphans, don't tell the clave, little warlocks, malec family
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-28
Updated: 2016-10-28
Packaged: 2018-08-27 12:37:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,138
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8402014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/duskbutterfly/pseuds/Intangibel
Summary: Alec & Magnus had discussed the possibility of adopting a child together but nothing prepared Magnus for Alec turning up after a fierce battle with two children who needed their temporary protection and care. That at least one of the children was a warlock was just the beginning of their challenges.





	

**Author's Note:**

> I haven't read the books and this is set in the TV show's universe so we're going to diverge from there. 
> 
> You don't really need to have read the other story in this series or its prequel by Gaydemonium [Babysitting Alec Lightwood](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7731472) as it will stand alone, but they do provide the background to the story. In summary: Magnus had been asked to take care of Alec briefly as a child while his parents were escaping the circle, something Alec did not discover until after he and Magnus were together and this meeting had a profound effect on Magnus' life.

It’d been a really long day, so when Magnus’ phone rang he really wanted to banish it to some alternate universe where no clingy and obsessive clients would ever be able to find it. Sighing, Magnus flipped over his phone preparing himself for the worst and grinned instead. It was Alec’s face filling the lock screen of his phone, it was a welcome call after all.

“Hello Alexand–”

“Magnus, I need a portal, like right **_now_**!” Alec’s voice was low and harsh, cutting off Magnus’ greeting.

“Where?” Magnus asked, tamping down his panic at Alec’s obvious distress.

“Alleyway behind Pandemonium next to that dumpster. We’re coming to you,” Alec’s words were clipped, more like orders than requests, which was never a good sign. Alec always asked rather than demanded, so something was horribly wrong.

“How many?”

“Uh. Well, three, I guess?” Alec sounded suddenly confused, which was weird because it was a pretty straightforward question.

“You _guess_? Don’t you know?” Magnus’ voice rose as his mind jumped to all the reasons why you might not know whether someone counted – like if they were on the brink of-

“Magnus! Please just - do this for me. I need it **_now_**.” This time it was Alec who sounded panicked and Magnus shoved aside his fears and opened the portal as quickly as he could, “right. See you in a second.”

“I love you,” Alec whispered and then the phone call dropped out.

Leaving Magnus hoping like hell that didn’t mean Alec was dying or anything because he needed about a hundred million more opportunities to tell Alec just how much he loved him too. He heard a clatter outside and rushed to his front door so that he could let Alec and whoever he’d brought with him in and froze at the sight that greeted his eyes.

Alec was standing on their doorstep in a singed shirt and jeans torn at the knee with nasty looking darker streaks down that same leg. But that wasn’t what drew Magnus’ attention. No, that would be the bundle of blankets Alec had cradled in one arm while his other hand was engulfing the hand of a small boy who looked about three. A small boy who reminded Magnus of the magnificent dragons in Chinese artwork with his unruly mop of golden hair, that was almost as messy as Alec’s, and the most gorgeous red scales covering his body

“Alexander?” Magnus asked dazedly, wondering if this was some elaborate dream or if his boyfriend really was standing outside their front door holding two children with a pleading expression. As Magnus watched, the little boy ducked his head and turned away to hide behind one of Alexander’s long legs, which was quite possibly the cutest thing he’d ever seen. Magnus sighed wistfully, he just wanted to wrap all three of them up in a massive hug and never let go. But he had a feeling that the little dragon probably wouldn’t appreciate it just yet and young warlocks could be quite dangerous if frightened suddenly.

“I know babysitting isn’t technically part of your services and I swear, if we hadn’t been about to be attacked by another swarm of shax demons, I would have asked first but they’ve already been through so much today and I just wanted to bring them somewhere safe. Somewhere I knew I’d be able to take care of them until we can work out what’s best for their futures,” Alec said all in a rush, obviously mistaking Magnus’ sigh as a complaint at being landed with two houseguests under the age of five with no warning. 

“It’s okay, Alexander,” Magnus said holding his hand up placatingly, hovering near his sleeve but careful not to touch, “I’m glad you brought them here. Let’s go inside and you can introduce me to our two young friends.”  

Magnus wished he had a camera and could capture the way Alec’s smile spread across his face, lighting up his eyes as he shifted the baby in his arms, peering over his shoulder to catch the attention of the small boy clinging to one of his legs.

“C’mon, Ben, you’ll like Magnus’ place,” Alec said encouragingly, moving his legs slowly with tiny steps because Ben still hadn’t let go of the death grip he had on Alec’s jeans, “and he can do magic too, so if you ask nicely I’m pretty sure he’ll get you that ice cream we talked about before, okay?”

“Straw-bewy?” A little voice asked quietly and Magnus saw a flash of gold peek out at him from behind Alec’s leg.

Magnus almost laughed at the adorable puppy dog expression on Alec’s face. There had been no chance of Magnus being able to resist Ben’s shy request even before he’d looked at Alec but now that he had… Magnus had a terrible feeling that he’d just discovered a new Achilles heel. He’d better hope that Ben didn’t want anything that couldn’t be bought borrowed or stolen because Magnus was pretty sure he’d offer him the world if Alec kept looking at him like that.  

“Come and sit on the couch and I’ll get you some strawberry ice-cream,” Magnus promised as he tried to get a better look at Ben only for his little head to duck back out of sight as soon as he saw Magnus looking.

It took considerably longer for them to reach the couch than either Magnus or Alec expected. Neither of them having ever tried walking through the entry way at a rate of inches rather than feet before and hopefully, this would be a once off kind of thing. But at last they made it and Magnus had his first chance to really look at Ben as he climbed up to sit next to Alec on the couch. His legs were so short that, even with his legs stretched out straight, his sneakers only just reached the edge of the couch cushion. Despite his obvious shyness, he had a definite sense of style. His beige chinos had been paired with a soft-looking navy sweater and a white collared shirt and he managed to still look impressive despite now sporting some very dubious looks stains. 

“Now I believe I promised _someone_ some strawberry ice-cream. I wonder who that could have been? Was it you Alec?” Magnus asked teasingly, frowning as though he couldn’t remember, hoping to draw a smile from his adorable little houseguest. 

“No,” Alec chuckled, “I think it was –” Alec paused looking down over his shoulder at Ben who grinned and clapped, enjoying their antics.

“Me!” Ben said quietly but with more confidence than the first time.

“Silly me, of course, it was Ben!” Magnus said, enjoying the opportunity to put on a performance, “now are you watching very closely Ben?” Magnus waited for Ben to nod, “alright on the count of three your ice-cream will appear – One…. Two…. Three!!”

Magnus snapped his fingers and Ben squealed in delight as suddenly an ice-cream cone topped with two large scoops of strawberry ice-cream appeared in his hand. He was so pleased and excited that he misjudged the distance and the ice-cream hit him on the nose leaving a splodge of pink ice-cream in its wake as his tongue darted out to try it. His smile almost as wide as Alec’s as he focused all of his attention on eating.

Laughing Magnus turned his attention back to Alec and their other guest, a surprisingly ordinary looking baby swaddled up on rather worn looking checked blanket. The sight of Alec cradling a child (his mind kept whispering, it could be _their_ child) so gently was doing very pleasant, but completely inappropriate for an audience of small children, things to his insides. He really needed to focus on the issue at hand, kissing Alec would just have to wait until they had put the children to bed. Assuming they were still here then of course.

“And who do we have here?” Magnus asked, leaning in closer to look at the baby sleeping in Alec’s arms.

“I’m not sure actually,” Alec whispered, angling his head towards Magnus’ ear while keeping an eye on Ben, not wanting to upset him but needing to explain how they ended up here, “we were sent out to investigate a report of an attack down by Pandemonium and when we got there we saw these two women with kids running away from a whole swarm. We did everything we could but it was like they were intentionally trying to separate the kids from the women and by the time we arrived to help both of the women already had injuries. I realised it was too dangerous for the kids to be in the middle of the fight. They didn’t need to see what happened next so I ended up grabbing the kids and finding enough cover to call you while Jace, Izzy and Clary took care of the rest of the swarm. The – the outcome for their –” Alec paused, his voice rough, not willing to say the word ‘mothers’ in case it upset the kids but he knew Magnus understood who he meant, “– it wasn’t likely to be good. I would have heard by now if they’d been able to - to come here.”

Magnus turned his head back to look at Alec, horror written across his face as he realised that Alec meant that these children’s mothers – or at least the women they were with – we’re almost certainly dead. Magnus risked a quick look at Ben, who fortunately was completely and totally absorbed in devouring his ice-cream, and nodded rather than putting his darker thoughts into words.

“Is there –” Alec floundered for a moment looking apologetic as he searched for the right words, “is there any way to _tell_ if this child is a warlock too? It looks so young; I don’t want to do anything that might hurt it. 

Magnus grinned, Alec’s new found political correctness, a very genuine attempt to pay greater respect to Downworlders, could be very cute to watch.

“It will be painless, Alexander, I promise. I’m just going to use a tiny bit of my magic to see if the child has magic of their own, it will be like a feather-light caress on their skin and see if I can glean anything about its life with the gentlest opening of its consciousness to my mind. Unlike _taking_ memories, scanning thoughts and feelings is painless and leaves no trace.”

Magnus waited until Alec nodded before moving his hand closer, hovering it just above the baby’s cheek and sending a tiny puff of blue magic into its skin. It was always strange reading baby’s minds. Their senses were so alert and absorbent and yet very little interpretation came with the flood of light, rush of sound, stream of flavour and haze of scent but there was magic here, a lot of it, Magnus was certain of that. This child had been sired by a powerful demon, which could lead to trouble if that was the source of the threat.     

Magnus was so absorbed in all of the sensations flooding his mind it wasn’t until he sensed the baby’s distress – Alice’s distress? Magnus wasn’t sure where the name was coming from but it was one of the only words he got from the child’s mind so clearly it was significant to them in some way – and as he pulled back Magnus realised that what had upset the child was Alec’s phone ringing.

Alec’s gaze was flicking between the baby and his pocket, clearly unsure what he should be focusing on as the baby started to cry and suddenly Ben was crowding in close to Alec’s other side.

“Magnus?” Alec asked as he gently shifted the baby in his arms, rocking it and humming as he tried to settle it and wrapping his other arm around Ben’s shoulders, “I think you might have to get my phone, I think I’m needed here.”       

At any other time, Magnus would have delighted in an opportunity to rummage in Alec’s pockets but now really wasn’t the time. So he snapped his fingers and Alec’s phone appeared in his hand and Magnus could see it was Alec’s Parabatai. He’d been hoping it might be Isabelle but, no such luck. Walking away so that he could still keep an eye on Alec and the kids but not be overheard, Magnus answered the call.

“Alec Lightwood’s phone –”

“Alec?”

“Magnus, actually.”

“Oh. Is he –”

“Alec is fine; he’s just got his hands a little full with two adorable children.”

“Right. Um, look about that. We managed to kill all the demons but – um – the two women didn’t make it. Their injuries were too significant and by the time we’d finished fighting it was already too late. But one did manage to speak to us before – you know….

Magnus swore quietly, he knew that was the most likely outcome but still it was awful to have it confirmed. As he watched, Ben climbed onto Alec’s lap so they could both see the baby and soothe her quiet whimpers, making Magnus wish he was able to go back to being part of that snuggle rather than dealing with what Alec would call the ‘operational details’.

“Listen, she said they were the kid’s mothers. I’m almost certain they were both Mundanes; they couldn’t see what was attacking them, all they knew was that something kept trying to take their children. This apparently wasn’t the first time.”

“Well, the kids safe enough here for now but it sounds like I’ll need to investigate this further. I can’t have demons targeting my people and trying to kidnap young warlocks.”

“ _We’ll_ have to investigate, Magnus,” Jace said firmly.

“Hold-up. This is not your –”

“Alec’s not going to let this one go. Both of us know that and he and I are a package deal, so yeah, Magnus, all of us are in on this one.” 

“But if you report this –” Magnus said, torn between protecting the children from the Clave and accepting the help they were almost certain to need from Alec’s family.

“You’re the High Warlock of Brooklyn,” Jace interrupted, “they’re technically your charges, given they’re warlocks and we found them in Brooklyn, so we should be able to convince the Clave that they don’t want to get involved. Besides, this is Alec we’re talking about, he’s a born protector. If you want to worry about something, worry about whether or not you’re ready to adopt. I know you guys have talked about it but I’m telling you, he _left_ Izzy and I in order to get those kids to safety. The only time I’ve ever seen Alec leave a fight like that was when Izzy was injured.”  

“Oh,” Magnus said as Jace’s words started to really sink in. He’d been so focused on the kids that he hadn’t really thought about how unusual it was for Alec to leave Jace and Izzy behind.

“Exactly. So, let’s try this again, is there anything you guys need in the short term other than some diplomacy to ensure the Clave doesn’t get involved?” Jace said and Magnus could practically hear him smirking.

Magnus thought for a minute, trying to consider not just their immediate needs but what they might need in a couple of hours, maybe even a couple of days.

“I need Alexander,” Magnus said automatically, and only realised he’d said it aloud when Jace snorted.

“I’ll see if I can get us taken off active duty for a couple of days while we ‘investigate’ to see if any more Mundanes are at risk, that should work but I’ll need him back for at least a few hour a couple of times each day – it’ll look far too suspicious if he just disappears and doesn’t train. Alec always trains, and even now he practically lives with you, he’s been keeping up appearances here so I think it’d be best if we could figure out a way to maintain that. Maybe Izzy could come to you whenever Alec is at the institute?”

Magnus sighed. He hated playing these games with the Clave and Alec’s parents where Alec was still under enormous pressure to never appear to let their relationship impact on his duties as a Shadowhunter. Which wasn’t to imply that Alec was in any way hiding their relationship, he made sure everyone was very clear on that front, and Raziel help anyone who said anything bad about Magnus in his presence, but he still worked harder and longer than anyone else to prove there were absolutely no grounds to the accusations and insinuations which were still spread behind his back.

“I know the drill and I should be able to make portals so that will cut down the travel time. I’ll speak to Alec and we’ll let you know about Izzy, I don’t know yet what the kids will be like when he has to leave. Other than that, well anything you can tell us about the mothers would be helpful – where they might have come from or been going to? I would have known about them if they’d been native to Brooklyn. Is Isabelle making an – examination?”

“Yeah, we’re taking both the bodies back to the institute so we hope to be able to give you some more information soon. Until then, keep us posted, okay? We want to help if we can.”

Promising to keep them updated, Magnus and Jace said their goodbyes and Magnus ended the call.

Magnus took a moment to take a picture of Alec and the kids as he tried to gather his thoughts. Alec was a natural with children, he’d seen it before in the way Alec treated Max but seeing Alexander now with these two warlock children – seeing the way he was so completely unfazed by Ben’s very obvious warlock mark, despite his upbringing was almost more than Magnus’ heart could take. It wasn’t that he hadn’t wanted to believe Alexander when he’d they’d discussed it before. When Alec had pointed out that he loved Magnus, so why shouldn’t he be able to love a young warlock too? But every instinct Magnus had told him to expect rejection, to expect the type of fear and revulsion that Maryse expressed towards him. Yet, Alexander seemed determined to break every single stereotype of his kind in order to do what was right and Magnus loved him even more for it. Now that it had been confirmed that these children’s mothers were dead, they needed to consider more than just their immediate welfare and Magnus couldn’t help but hear Jace’s words echoing in his mind: “If you want to worry about something; worry about whether or not you’re ready to adopt… he _left_ Izzy and I in order to get those kids to safety.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm not 100% sure where I'm going with this but hopefully you've enjoyed it so far! feel free to come say hi to me on [Tumblr (intangibel)](http://intangibel.tumblr.com) or leave a comment here with any suggestions or to chat about this fic or Shadowhunters in general ;)


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